Black And Blue Division.com

I’ve been busy with real life over the last few weeks, thus the lack of posts, but with the season now over and me still limping a bit from the NFC Championship game, here are some off-season questions for around the NFC North.

1.  Brett?

2.  Will the Bears Offensive Coordinator make a difference or is it a lame duck season in Chicago.

3.  Will the Vikes sign Chester Taylor, or let him go?

4.  Can the Lions do anything to really improve much?  Or are they really that bad that they might not win more than a few games in 2010?

5.  Which direction will Green Bay go in the draft?

It’s been almost 48 hours, so it hasn’t been too long, but many Packer fans are still reeling from Sunday’s dramatic loss. A few Packer blogs are still questioning the non-call facemask penalty.

The league already issued a statement precisely on why a call was not made. But still you see more pictures popping up with a finger on Aaron Rodgers face mask (with ball floating through the air). With our great ability to stop pictures using DVR’s and with more people taking photos of the live action, I can see how you can freeze a moment in time to “prove” there was a face-masking taking place.

What these pictures don’t show is that during a normal speed replay (or live as the refs have to call the action) it’s not as obvious (unless you have green glasses on). Plus, at that point if you’re a ref, you are probably concentrating on whether the ball is going to hit the ground, get picked up, who recovers, etc., rather than continuing to hang-on to the hope that you can find some justification for calling the play back.

I’d expect a few more days of this before it starts to die out.

That was simply an incredible game yesterday as Arizona at some point found a way to stop the Green Bay offense in overtime to advance. Aaron Rodgers had an outstanding day at QB, save the interceptions / fumbles. Those impact of those goes without saying.

When watching the game, at no point in the first or second quarter did I feel Green Bay wasn’t going to be in it. I kept saying this is going to be a 34-31 type game. As the third quarter stretched on for what seemed like forever for any Cardinal’s fans, it suddenly became apparent a 40 or 50 point game was in the cards.

An overtime playoff game is as good as you can expect. Sometimes the outcome just isn’t what you want it to be. For Packer fans, this one must sting some.

After seeing Aaron Rodgers this year, fans across the rest of the NFC North have something to worry about for years to come. The guy should only get better.

What’s interesting though is despite his good numbers, he doesn’t win most of his best passing games.

I did some quick research last night and in the games where A-Rodg has thrown for more than 250 yards, he is only 7 – 13. Of those seven wins, four were over Detroit. Also, despite the Packers fight to win yesterday, Aaron has only completed one fourth quarter comeback. That occurred earlier this year against the Bears where he led a two minute drive from a two-point deficit to win by five.

Obviously, passing for less yards is never a great way to win games, but it does bring some light as to the frustrations Packer fans could be having with Rodgers. Obviously, 51 points scored against them isn’t Aaron’s fault, but sometimes what it takes to win can’t be measured in stats.

I’m not sure if it was the Arizona game or Carolina, but Chicago has found ways to move the ball on what was an impressive defense earlier in the year. The offense simply doesn’t exist on the Viking’s behalf. Hard to say what’s going to happen in the second half. Does this team have the heart?

With three weeks left in the season, things are pretty much ironed out for Minnesota and Green Bay heading into the playoffs.  Unless a sudden string of upsets hit Green Bay and the Purple, both teams have good ideas what seed they will have for the playoffs. Read the rest of this entry »

I know, I know…  NFC North, and we’re talking Saints.  I feel after a nice Monday night performance which was no doubt impressive, they deserve a couple sentences.

One thing that got me thinking was, how good are they?  Read the rest of this entry »

File in this under the “looking too far ahead” department, but some Green Bay writers are grasping at the opportunity to continue their wild card run, and upset the Vikings in a possible playoff game ruining the hopes and dreams of all Vikings fans.

A couple reasons for optimism exist. Read the rest of this entry »

The first half of the NFL season is in the books, and as for the NFC North, a few things have become apparent:

1. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED – When Brett Favre left Green Bay in 2007, he said that he felt that he had “nothing left”. When he decided he wanted to come back, Ted Thompson decided that he and the Packers were ready to move on to Aaron Rodgers as their starting QB. Read the rest of this entry »

When the Vikings finished their eighth game of the season against…  it’s been so long I forgot.  They established a two and a half game lead over the Bears and the Packers.

Now after eleven days, (and a Thursday night Bear loss) the Vikings will wake up tomorrow Read the rest of this entry »

A couple weeks ago, the NFC North had a great week where every team won…  and that might have included the Lions.  With the Packers and Bears off to quick starts, and Minnesota doing their thing, Read the rest of this entry »